New Mexico center gets more alcohol research funding

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Alcohol Research Center is getting a $7.5 million grant to continue its work to better understand fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has awarded the center a five-year renewal of a specialized grant.

The center is one of 16 alcohol research centers in the United States. It brings together faculty investigators who are focused on the neurobiological consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure as part of an effort to develop better diagnoses and more effective interventions.

Center director Dan Savage says fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, or FASD, affect more than 2% of children in New Mexico.

The grant will allow the center to continue with biomedical research and clinical studies. The center also works to increase awareness.